

., ADDRESS 



I.' FE\ CHARACTER AND PUBLIC SERVICES, 



OF THE LJ.TE 



HON. BENJAMIN WATKINS LEIGH. 



DEMURRED BF.IOHK 



Tin: Virginia historical societv, 



AT ITS LATE ANNUAL MEETING. 



BY WM. H. MACFARLAND, ESQ. 



PCBI.ISUKD EY THE SOCJETT. 



J ISCART, 3 551. 



RICHMOND: 
MACFARLAXE & FERGUSSOX. 

1551. 



***& 



• 



AN ADDRESS 



LIFE, CHARACTER AND PUBLIC SERVICES, 

ft) 



OF THE LATE 



HON. BENJAMIN WATKINS LEIGH, 



DELIVERED BEFORE 



THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 



AT ITS LATE ANNUAL MEETING. 



BY WM. H. MACFARLAND, ESQ. 



PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY. 



January, 1851. 




0> RICHMOND s 
MACFARLANE & FERGUS SON. 

1851. 



ADDRESS. 



Mr. President, and Gentlemen of the Historical Society : 

I could not be so indifferent to your good opinion as to 
decline your request to sketch the character of one whom we 
all lament, now he is no more, as he was, when in life, the object 
of our esteem and affection. Yet for this office, so full of inter- 
est, and capable of subserving the purest ends, I am sensible of 
no other claim than a profound and unfaltering admiration of 
his many virtues. It is right to cherish the memory of noble 
men ; and it is only as we desire to recall them, and to meditate 
on their bright examples, we can be sure, in our own persons, of 
the sympathies and hopes which belong to noble natures. 

It is not an easy matter to delineate faithfully one so emi- 
nently gifted, and who exerted as large an influence, as the 
honored subject of this hasty sketch. The best eulogy of an 
useful citizen, is a true, faithful, accurate description of him ; 
and it is such a description only which is of any value. What 
we desire to know respects the individual, and refers to those 
separate and peculiar traits and endowments which elicited the 
praise, confidence and esteem he attracted aud retained. We 
desire to be admitted to a nearer view of the particular man, 
aud to learu how it was, and by what deeds or virtues, he be- 
came segregated aud distinguished. It is resemblance we look 
for in a picture; and it is resemblance alone, which can satisfy 
a pure taste, or present worthily a noble subject. 

Benjamin Watkins Leigh attracted observation, at the first, 
by bis graceful personal appearance. Apart from those silent 
indications of high spirit and intelligence, seen and felt, as soon 
as be was seen, and which never fail to invest any form with 
power to attract, he would have gained upon strangers by his 
fine and striking presence. It. has fallen to my lot to perceive 
the impression made by his superiority over most other men in 
that respect. I have known him to be gazed upon, followed, 



admired, for the grace and attraction of his person. But if with- 
out that higher heauty which the spirit reflects upon the form, 
Mr. Leigh was a handsome man, it was the soul beaming 
through his expressive lineaments — the harmony of the outer 
with the inner man — which invested him with a rare and impos- 
ing charm. In a peculiar degree, was his countenance an index 
of his feelings, sentiments and thoughts. It not merely expressed 
what he felt, but represented with such truth and distinctness, 
as well his intentions as his passions, that it seemed he was 
incapable of practising concealment if he would. His features 
were delicate, and well nigh effeminate; — yet there was such an 
impress of frankness and sincerity, and of energy and deci- 
sion, that he was on the instant recognized as alike bland and 
resolved. 

Some lineaments of the man might have been discovered in 
the child. Interested as his family might be, and were, by the 
prepossessing boy, it was not for his good looks alone, nor mainly, 
that bright hopes were cherished of the distinction which 
awaited him. Sincere and earnest, quick and resolute, there 
were visible even then the frankness, intrepidity, and directness 
for which he was afterwards conspicuous. His father dying 
when he was a child, his mother's nurture, bestowed with the 
care and vigilance to which a mother only is equal, found its 
rich reward in the progress of her son. It was a proof at once 
of his goodness and her superiority, that Mr. Leigh often ac- 
knowledged, with grateful affection, his obligations to his mo- 
ther. It was indeed one of the most touching evidences of 
his ingenuous and grateful nature, that he delighted to revert to 
those who had shared in the training of his youth ; — and among 
them, was his early and excellent preceptor, in whose school 
he passed several years, the Rev. Needier Robinson, whom he 
mentioned always with regard and veneration. 

At College he held the position which might have been ex- 
pected from his power of application and quickness of appre- 
hension. The pride of doing well whatever he attempted was 
as characteristic of him at William and Mary as at the bar or in 
the Senate. This ancient seat of learning, in common Avith 
the classical city of which it was the ornament, was replete 
with associations fitted to inspire a lofty ambition. It was there, 
as witnesses survived to relate, the royal government had figured 
in the imposing ceremony and display which rank and wealth 



could commaud, and there that free government had been pro- 
claimed, and brave hearts marshalled to its defence, in tones as 
eloquent as can flow from mortal lips. It was a place and time 
to inspire heroic sentimeuts and aspirations; and young Leigh's 
was the mind and spirit to kindle and expand with the inspira- 
tion. His life was a practical illustration of his conformity to 
the pure standards of the honest age of the republic. Disdain- 
ing to profess doctrines fashioned to the varying hour, his opin- 
ions were formed, and his course resolved upon, regardless of 
approbation, save as it did justice to the pursuit of noble ends 
by noble means. The venerable college, entitled by hereditary 
right to transmit a true heroism, was justly proud of the mas- 
sive character of her favourite son. 

It was there a friendship had its beginning, which interrupted 
never by professional jealousy, incessant and elaborate as were 
the collisions to which the parties were summoned, was even 
more unreserved and cordial at the close of life than at the outset. 
Greatly as they were respected and admired by the public, each, 
one for the other, cherished feelings not only of kindness but 
affectiou. It afforded no pleasure to know that opinion was di- 
vided between them, for each did not hesitate to admit agaiust 
himself differences, which caprice or prejudice would not have 
sanctioned. Leigh, Chapman Johnson, Henry St. George Tuck- 
er and Robert Stanard, connected in youth were scarcely sepa- 
rated by death, for in quick succession did they sink into the 
tomb, the victims of wastiug and inexorable application. They 
stood confessedly at the head of the profession. The immediate 
successors of the illustrious Marshall and Wickham, it was high 
praise to know that the profession lost none of its dignity and 
influence in their keeping. 

The attachment between Mr. Leigh and Mr. Johnson is worthy 
of a more particular notice. It was an instance of their mag- 
nimity and goodness, rare and affecting. Contrasted in some 
respects, differing occasionally in their views of leading ques- 
tions, tenacious of their opinions, of strong will and competitors 
from the force of circumstances, they were never insensible of 
the sympathy which united them in affectionate intimacy. The 
explanation of a friendship, which we cannot contemplate with- 
out admiration of their frank and generous n . to its, is to be 
found in the knowledge which each had of the true, simple, ear- 



nest character of the other. Of high principle both, the spiritual 
in them was incontaminable, by the expedient and politic. 
With just and manly views of their own powers, and equal to 
the occasion how great soever the effort it required, each would 
ascribe to the other a superiority which each might have claimed 
for himself. Cherishing the highest opinion of Johnson's powers 
of analysis and induction, when speaking of him familiarly, Mr. 
Leigh would say, his " sledge-hammer was resistless;" whilst 
of Leigh, with a humility which must have been witnessed to be 
appreciated, Mr. Johnson would declare, that it required his 
grace and the charm of his elocution to gain and gratify atten- 
tion. Incomparable men, none but yourselves were unjust to 
your varied and great powers. 

"Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull; 
Strong without rage ; without o'erflowing full." 

The style of Mr. Leigh differed at an after period from what 
it was in the early years of his forensic practice. Then it was 
ornate, copious and empassioned. There are those who survive 
to describe the effects of his rich and vehement declamation in 
the District Court of Petersburg, where he commenced his ca- 
reer. One of his earliest cases, if not that in which he made his 
debut, was of a nature strongly to excite him, and to call forth 
bursts of indignant and pathetic eloqueuce, of which he could be 
an eminent master. It was the volunteer defence of a boy pro- 
secuted for killing his step-father in the act of beating his mother. 
The effort inspired enthusiastic admiration, and placed him at 
once in the front rauk of a bar, distinguished by great ability. 
We are reminded of Thomas Erskine, England'sgreatest advo- 
cate, emerging to rank and fame by a single effort of intrepid in- 
vective. When he removed to this city, and entered regularly 
upon the practice in the appellate court, his style had assumed 
a more severe, compact, and simple form. The change pro- 
ceeded from his exact and critical taste. He assented to Swift's 
definition of style, " proper words in proper places," and was 
wont to admire its beautiful exemplification in the history of the 
last four years of Queen Anne. Now. he aimed at clearness, 
simplicity and force. The old habit weald, however, sometimes 
break out. and when led into that field, he never failed of ap- 
plause for his affluent and varied profusion. It was easier for 
him to gain applause than to satisfy himself. His taste rejected 



whatsoever savoured of display, and decided for plainness and 
brevity. It might have been that he would have gratified more 
the general ear by allowing himself a greater freedom. Yet 
within the limits which he prescribed to himself, there was lati- 
tude enough for the best efforts of an orator, as his own brilliant 
example demonstrated. Such was his depth and elevation, and 
so largely did his feelings enter into his speeches, that his terse, 
sententious, epigrammatic style, glowed with an ardor which 
elaborate ornament would have obscured. Refine he did not, 
uor deal in subtle distinctions. Everything about him denoted 
a powerful intellect, eminently practical. Confining himself to 
common sense views, which, after all, involve the solution of 
every question, he presented them with a perspicuity and force 
of diction which impressed his hearers with the highest opinion 
of his dignity and ability. 

Learned he was, and admirably trained, for discipline and 
learning were essential to such au order of elocution — learned 
ill the law as a science, and built up and grounded in its princi- 
ples. And beside and beyond this, he had explored the fields of 
literature, and returned laden with its treasures ever ready for 
use. He went deep into the nature and essence of things, im- 
pelled by a love of truth which refused to be satisfied with 
semblances and forms. Knowledge for him possessed a value 
in itself, and was for itself coveted, unaffected by any concern for 
the advantage it might reflect. From his well stored mind every 
thing came forth finished, rounded and suited to its place. 

His position at the bar was one of influence as well as of dis- 
tinction. His brethren delighted to put him forward as a leader 
they were proud to acknowledge; and the bench to welcome 
him as one who was sure to edify, when he failed to convince. 
His frank and manly bearing — high-toned and scrupulous pro- 
priety, could not fail to produce their own resemblance in those 
permitted daily to contemplate and admire him. It was a 
fortunate consecmence of his connection, as advocate, with the 
adjudications of the appellate Court, that he exercised an impor- 
tant agency in settling our system of jurisprudence. The bar ia 
scarcely less influential than the bench in ascertaining and de- 
teruiiniug the law; and for this, the loftiest distinction of the 
profession, Mr. Leijih was happily constituted by the exactness 
of his knowledge, his contempt for sophistry, and his reverence 
for just and stable principles. 



8 

As lawyer and advocate, he filled the measure of his fame — aye, 
more — occupied exclusively with his profession, averse to public 
station, contemuing influence gained by interested attentions, and 
scorning the arts by which popularity is usually sought and ac- 
quired, he was yet, unconsciously to himself, singled out, by 
common consent, as worthy the highest honors of the State. 
It was a high tribute to receive, and not less honorable in the 
State to pay. 

The mission to Kentucky, though not the first of his appoint- 
ments, was a flattering instance of the State's regard. Previ- 
ously he had been associated with other distinguished jurists in 
the revision of the Code, and had gained upon public consider- 
ation by his large share in the laborious work. The objects of 
the mission were of deep interest to the State, and it was not 
less due to her fame than to the magnitude of the questions at 
issue, that Virginia should be represented by the most eminent 
of her sons. Kentucky had set the example of such state inter- 
communication, and invested it with all the imposing circum- 
stance which the loftiest character could impart. Clay, accom- 
panied by Bibb, had been seut hither, and here in this hall was 
heard that magic eloquence, which, in the national Senate, hap- 
pily for the nation, has so often controlled and determined 
public measures. The State had every motive which could in- 
fluence a magnanimous people, to be represented before the 
legislature of Kentucky in a manner worthy of her fame. The 
choice fell upon Mr. Leigh. His speech in execution of his 
mission remains, a fine specimen of a chaste and nervous style, 
and of perspicuous and logical compactness. 

Though not next in the order of his public services, his mission 
to South Carolina may here claim our notice. The occasion 
was one of intense national excitement and anxiety. Caro- 
lina, inflamed under a sense of supposed wrongs, proceeding 
from the general government, was about to expose the union 
to a fearful hazard. The crisis was of momentous, awful con- 
cern; Virginia so regarded it, and so did Leigh, content ever to 
leave public concerns to those who aspired to them, when no 
impending calamity was discerned. His brave heart looked on 
with dismay and distress. The sensibilities of our legislature, 
in common with the whole country, were painfully excited. 
The authority of the Union wa^ about to be defied, and FIe;.ven 
only knew what might be the issue of the direful conflict. The 



integrity of the sacred Union itself was threatened, and as in 
such case it must ever be, until we be mad enough to defile the 
memory of our fathers, and throw away a jewel richer than 
earth's treasury, a cord was struck which beat responsive in 
every patriot breast. It was an occasion for State interposition 
in its most majestic form. And who so worthy as Mr. Leigh to 
represent the State in a mission to avert the threatened catas- 
trophe. It was a theatre to bring out high qualities which found 
no place in his retired and laborious walks. One of his earliest 
admirers and a constant friend, whose brilliant career has at- 
tested his own great ability, as it has advanced the fame of his 
country, (Major General Scott,) gracefully ascribes to Mr. Leigh 
his own taste for military subjects, and pronounces that he would 
have made a peerless soldier. His coolness, chivalry and intre- 
pidity, and his generous appreciation of those noble qualities in 
others, fitted him to prevail with chivalrous men, intent upon a 
venture in which success, had success beeu possible, would have 
been the most fatal disaster. There is a sympthy between ele- 
vated spirits which insures success to temperate intercession, 
when other means would fail. The highest commendation of 
his conduct was contained in the short, but expressive declara- 
tion of Carolina, that he had executed his mission with " ability, 
temper and affection." 

The highest efforts of his genius and wisdom were witnessed 
in the State Convention of 1830. The place he had sought, 
excited by a dread of the changes which he foresaw would be 
attempted, and an apprehension that old principles, the better 
for their age, would be sacrificed to dangerous theories. In his 
cautious philosophy he condemned, as fatal to rational freedom, 
many current devices for a larger liberty, and desired to retain 
institutions which had worked well, even though they might 
not conform to the latest discoveries of science, so called. In a 
true and large sense a conservative, he was opposed to expe- 
riments upon the body politic, and recoiled from most of the 
popular schemes of innovation as dangerous to the general safety 
and decorum. Experience, he acknowledged, was a safe guide 
in deciding questions respecting the alteration of the organic 
law, but he dignified with that title, not the hasty inductions of 
careless observers, nor every expression of popular discontent 
or impatience, but a comprehensive and accurate resolution of 
results into their causes, for which caudor was as necessary as 



10 

discrimination. He entertained, we may suppose, the opinion 
of Hooker, that " the love of things ancient doth argue stayed- 
uess; but levity and want of experience maketh apt unto in^ 
novations." His maxims linger yet iu the memory of the public, 
if they abide not in its faith. 

It would not be too much to say, that whatever there be in the 
Constitution which is really valuable, if indeed in this day it be 
conceded there is any thing so, is to be credited more or less to 
Mr. Leigh. In the august assembly which framed it, consisting 
of the illustrious men of another age — Madison, Marshall, Mon- 
roe, Giles, who yet retained the faculties which made them 
memorable, and of Randolph, Tazewell, Johuson, inferior only 
to those conscript fathers in the length and variejy of their pub- 
lic services, he was confessedly the leader. Admired, deferred 
to, quoted, it was a summons to thoughtful attention whenever 
he addressed the house. 

" Of piercing wit and pregnant thought — 
Indued by nature, and by learning taught 
To move assemblies." 

His speeches may be consulted by statesmen with advantage, 
and those who aspire to lead in the State might make them their 
models. 

Of the course of Mr. Leigh in the Senate, it is difficult to 
speak, without introducing topics of a disturbing political nature 
ill suited to this occasiou. I wish to say only so much of hira» 
as all just men of whatsoever party will concur in ascribing. 
As a public man he was necessarily involved in those discords 
wbich, more or less, continue to agitate the public mind. "Time, 
the corrector where our judgments err," must pass on his and 
ours. 

But confining ourselves to his conduct and bearing as a 
public man, we may say of his career in the Senate, that it 
displayed tbroughout the purity, intrepidity and independence 
of his character — a thorough devotion to his sense of public 
duty, uuder circumstances most trying to his sensitive pride, 
and that it was throughout adorned by a brilliancy of eloquence 
rarely equalled. 

Elected in spite of his known aversion to public life, and 
greatly to the detriment of his private and professional interests, 
and in the first instance, under circumstances implying the most 



11 

gratifying public confidence, he did not shrink from the course 
he deemed it his duty to pursue, nor faint or falter in the pur- 
suit of it, by reason of the falling off of those on whose support 
he had a right to rely, and the fierce asperity with which he 
was assailed. 

No man ever lived with a heart more full of home affections. 
Tenderly as he prized the support of his State, and necessary as 
it was to his usefulness in the Senate, he scorned to court 
favor, or avert censure, by submission to what he conceived 
the "civium ardor prava jubentium" and maintained his post, 
until, in his judgment, neither public duty nor private honor 
required a further sacrifice. 

For the Senate he was in his day too senatorial — offending 
often by the inflexible advocacy of his convictions, and his un- 
suppresed disgust at whatsoever he considered venality, artifice 
or assumption. 

It was his last appearance in political life, as indeed it was 
the first, with the exception of a short service in the legislature 
of the State, when he appeared there to animate and nerve his 
countrymen in the national controversy then peudiug with Eng- 
land. On that theatre he was a much prized favorite, kindling 
the enthusiasm of others with his own generous ardor. 

His professional engagements were too onerous and engross- 
ing to permit him to engage, except occasionally, in composi- 
tion, yet he contrived to make himself known and admired as 
a writer. His style was classical, and abounded in the glowing 
thoughts and language which gave effect to his speeches. There 
was indeed a striking resemblance between his essays and 
speeches. The papers which he published on the Arbuthnot 
and Ambrister affair, under the siguature of Algernon Sidney, 
were eagerly read both in this country and in England. They 
were master pieces of their kind — distinguished by great ability 
and compass of argument, and by the tone and spirit of a resolute 
and lofty citizen. Though relating to topics, the interest of which 
has passed away, they deserve to be remembered. 

Mr. Leigh was of a nature to attract to himself strong feel- 
ings either of attachment or opposition. He would speak out, 
and had nothing of the policy which endeavors to propitiate by 
simulating assent, or garbling unwelcome truths. The only thing 
which he seemed not to consider, was the effect of his acts and 
opinions upon himself. In matters which appealed even re- 



* 

12 

raotely to his seuse of duty, or that disturbed his fastidious pro- 
priety, he was impatient aud intractable ; but those obstacles out 
of the way, he was gentle and indulgent, and of unsurpassed 
benevolence and hospitality. 

Of one of such earnestness and truth, it is consoling to know, 
religion had never been altogether forgotten or contemned. 

When he entered upon life, infidelity was a thing of fashion aud 
a boast, but the sophistry and sneers of pedants and scoffers moved 
him only to pity or disgust. He inherited a devout admiration 
of the Episcopal church, for his father was a holy man, aud 
ministered at her altars. Attracted to theological literature, he 
had strengthened his religious convictions, and trained and 
purified his taste by the study of Jeremy Taylor, Hooker, 
Sherlock, Tillotson. The illustrious person to whom I have 
before referred, owns gratitude to Leigh, for his rescue in early 
life from a fearful state of infidelity. A common faith added 
another tie to their indissoluble friendship. Under the waste and 
weakness of declining health, his devotion became apparent, 
aud, God be praised, he seemed possessed of its holy influence. 

Much as there was to honor and revere in this good aud great 
man, it was in retirement, midst his friends, aud in his family, 
and only there, he could be appreciated and loved as he deser- 
ved. There his joyous spirit gave itself vent, and gentleness 
and affability seemed his greatest distinction. His quick and 
open affectious seemed, indeed, hardly consistent with his in- 
flexibility before the world, aud yet nothing could be in more 
exact aud beautiful harmony. Lofty uatures alone are capable 
of the lovelier manifestations of love, confidence and hope. 

Thy name, oh Leigh, may perish from human memories. 
'Tis the heritage of mortality. But thy being was invested with 
power more enduring than the memorials of kindred and friend- 
ship, derived from the light of the high endeavors which circled 
thy life, and felt it will be as a stirring moral incentive when 
its source shall be no more remembered. A well spent life, 
through the creative energy of the virtues it illustrates, is an in- 
destructible element of advancement, not the less influential 
because a thankless world is unconscious of its benefactor. 



